A run for the hounds
Red dress runners stop for drinks at the Mouse Lounge in downtown Coeur d'Alene on Saturday afternoon, a charity fundraiser event by the Coeur d'Alene Hash House Harriers to raise money for Kootenai Humane Society. From left, Jason Morley, Bernard Blackstock and Ezra Sears. HANNAH NEFF/Press
Ezra Sears, left, the hare, swims from Mark Enegren in the annual hounds and hares styled Red Dress Run charity fundraiser through downtown Coeur d'Alene on Saturday afternoon. HANNAH NEFF/Press
Mark Enegren, left, and David McDonald, members of the Coeur d'Alene Hash House Harriers, jog through downtown Coeur d'Alene during the seventh annual Red Dress Run for charity on Saturday evening. HANNAH NEFF/Press
Andrew Stratton buys a beer in the Crown & Thistle Pub on the first beer stop for the Red Dress Run on Saturday afternoon, an annual charity fundraiser put on by the Coeur d'Alene Hash House Harriers. HANNAH NEFF/Press
Mark Enegren, facing, founder of the Coeur d’Alene Hash House Harriers chapter, gives instructions to the red dress runners outside of Crown & Thistle Pub on Saturday afternoon. The Red Dress Run is an annual fundraiser, this year raising money for the Kootenai Humane Society. HANNAH NEFF/Press
Flashes of red whizzed through downtown Coeur d’Alene on Aug. 21 as the Hash House Harriers walked, ran and swam for their seventh annual Red Dress Run fundraiser.
“It’s pretty cool,” Andrew Stratton of Coeur d’Alene said. “I like the fact that we’re raising money for charity because I don’t dress like this normally.”
As just one of the game rules to make the run more entertaining, the entire group must don red dresses as they take to the streets.
Through ticket sales and donations for the run, the Coeur d’Alene Hash House Harriers chapter, a drinking/running club promoting physical fitness, raised about $1,500 for the Kootenai Humane Society.
“It's a fun way to raise money for a good cause,” said Sherri Peterson of Coeur d’Alene, a first-time participant. “Who's going to argue about raising money to help animals? It’s awesome.”
The pub crawl, organized in the style of hounds and hares, started off at The Crown & Thistle Pub, with the group following clues, usually chalk marks on the sidewalk, as they stopped through bars on their journey to catch the "hare." Some even swam the final stretch through Lake Coeur d’Alene. A party at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 889 followed the run with food and dancing.
“It’s a great community,” said Sharon, a visiting Hasher from Florida. “It's fun because we all have serious lives and a lot going on. It's just a chance to get out and play and be safe."
Mark Enegren, founder of the Coeur d’Alene chapter, said the group brings extra dresses along because as they stop from bar to bar they always have someone who wants to join them.
“I get to meet people from all over the world,” said Bernard Blackstock, a visiting Hasher from Boise. “And I always have a place where I'm welcomed and I can stay.”
A Hasher for four years, Blackstock said what he likes about the club is it teaches him to not be anxious about his image and helps shed ego.
“It helps people be more receptive to change and how other people choose to live their life,” Blackstock said. “I get to see the world and experience life in another light.”
